The Ground Turned to Vajra
Good-Wealth asks what this liberation-gate actually contains, and the forest-spirit answers with her own story — an ancient vow to watch for the bodhisattva's descent, a hundred years of waiting, and ten signs that transformed her grove before he ever arrived.
A Hundred Years of Watching
Good-Wealth's question turns the teaching from a list of ten dharmas into a first-person story — an ancient vow, and a single grove chosen and waited in for a century.
「善男子！菩薩具此十法，生如來家，為一切世間清淨光明。善男子！我從無量劫來，得是自在受生解脫門。」善財白言：「聖者！此解脫門境界云何？」答言：「善男子！我先發願：『願一切菩薩示受生時皆得親近；願入毘盧遮那如來無量受生海。』以昔願力，生此世界閻浮提中嵐毘尼園，專念菩薩何時下生；經於百年，世尊果從兜率陀天而來生此。
"Good son, a bodhisattva endowed with these ten dharmas is born into the tathāgata's own family, and becomes a pure light for the whole world. Good son, throughout measureless kalpas, I have attained this sovereign liberation-gate of taking birth." Good-Wealth said: "Noble one, what is the domain of this liberation-gate?" She answered, saying: "Good son, I long ago made this vow: 'I vow to draw near to every bodhisattva whenever he shows himself taking birth; I vow to enter the measureless ocean of births of the tathāgata Vairocana.' Through the power of that ancient vow, I was born in this very world, within the Lumbinī garden of Jambudvīpa, single-mindedly watching for when the bodhisattva would descend and be born; and after a hundred years had passed, the World-Honored One did indeed come down from the Tuṣita Heaven and take birth here.
此解脫門境界云何 — what is the domain of this liberation-gate? Good-Wealth's question here breaks from his usual pattern of asking a teacher's name, her length of practice, or when she expects buddhahood. Asking after a gate's 境界, its domain or scope, is what turns the answer that follows into something closer to memoir than doctrine — an ancient vow, a chosen grove, and a hundred years spent simply watching.
Ten Signs in the Grove
Before the bodhisattva's birth itself, the grove is transformed — ground, trees, ponds, and the assembled classes of gods and spirits, each remade in turn.
「時，此林中現十種相。何等為十？一者，此園中地忽自平坦，坑坎、堆阜悉皆不現。二者，金剛為地，眾寶莊嚴，無有瓦礫、荊棘、株杌。三者，寶多羅樹周匝行列，其根深植至於水際。四者，生眾香芽，現眾香藏，寶香為樹，扶踈蔭映，其諸香氣皆逾天香。五者，諸妙華鬘寶莊嚴具，行列分布，處處充滿。六者，園中所有一切諸樹，皆自然開摩尼寶華。七者，諸池沼中，皆自生華，從地涌出，周布水上。八者，時此林中，娑婆世界欲色所住天、龍、夜叉、乾闥婆、阿脩羅、迦樓羅、緊那羅、摩睺羅伽，一切諸王，莫不來集，合掌而住。九者，此世界中所有天女，乃至摩睺羅伽女皆生歡喜，各各捧持諸供養具，向畢洛叉樹前，恭敬而立。十者，十方一切諸佛𪗇中，皆放光明，名：菩薩受生自在燈，普照此林；一一光中，悉現諸佛受生，誕生所有神變，及一切菩薩受生功德，又出諸佛種種言音。是為林中十種瑞相。此相現時，諸天王等即知當有菩薩下生；我見此瑞，歡喜無量。
"At that time, ten kinds of sign appeared throughout this grove. What were these ten? First, the ground within this garden suddenly became level of itself, with every pit and hollow, every mound and rise, entirely vanishing. Second, the ground turned to vajra, adorned with every kind of jewel, with not a single tile, pebble, thorn-bush, or stump remaining. Third, jewelled tāla trees stood in ranks all around, their roots planted deep, reaching down to the water's very edge. Fourth, fragrant shoots of every kind sprang up, revealing treasuries of every fragrance, with trees of jewelled fragrance spreading their shade, their every scent surpassing even the fragrance of the heavens. Fifth, every kind of wondrous flower-garland and jewelled ornament appeared arrayed in rows, filling every place entirely. Sixth, every tree in that garden spontaneously blossomed with maṇi-jewel flowers. Seventh, every pond and pool gave rise to flowers of themselves, welling up out of the earth and spreading over the water's surface. Eighth, at that time, throughout this grove, every king among the gods, nāgas, yakṣas, gandharvas, asuras, garuḍas, kiṃnaras, and mahoragas dwelling in the realms of desire and form all gathered together like clouds, standing with palms joined. Ninth, every heavenly maiden throughout this world, down to the very mahoraga maidens, all gave rise to joy, each one holding up implements of offering, standing reverently before the Plakṣa tree. Tenth, from within the crown of every buddha throughout the ten directions, light streamed forth, named the Lamp of a Bodhisattva's Own Sovereign Birth, universally illuminating this grove; and within each single ray of that light, every buddha's own taking of birth was manifested in full, together with every spiritual transformation of that birth, and every merit of every bodhisattva's own taking of birth, and it likewise gave forth every kind of speech of every buddha. These were the ten auspicious signs throughout the grove. When these signs appeared, every king of the gods at once knew that a bodhisattva was about to descend and be born; and, seeing these signs myself, I rejoiced beyond measure.
金剛為地⋯⋯十方一切諸佛𪗇中，皆放光明 — the ground turned to vajra⋯⋯from within the crown of every buddha throughout the ten directions, light streamed forth. Counted directly, exactly ten signs are named, moving from the smallest scale to the largest — first the garden's own ground and trees and ponds, then the eight classes of gods and spirits gathering, then heavenly maidens standing ready, and finally every buddha throughout the ten directions lighting up at once. The list ends where the ninth sign's small, local gesture of holding offerings ready meets a light vast enough to hold every buddha's own birth within it.
Part 1187 Complete
This continues chapter thirty-nine, 入法界品, in fascicle seventy-four. Part 1188 continues the forest-spirit's account with a second list of ten — the light-signs that appeared when Māyā herself entered the grove.